Copernicus
by Polterrgeist
Summary: Danny splits, Fenton going to college and Phantom staying to fight ghosts. Life's fine until Danny comes home to find an abused ghost and a family in need of repair. Oneshot, Danny P and Danny F, not Pitch Pearl.


**A/N: This is an entry for Spazchan's Fatal Phantom contest on DA which was to focus on a brotherly moment. It goes with a picture, which can be seen here: polterrgeist. deviantart art/ Copernicus- 293229712 (Without the spaces)**

**Edited October 2014**

**00000**

Danny remembered reading something in Lancer's class once.

_"It's a funny thing coming home. Nothing changes. Everything looks the same, feels the same, even smells the same. You realize what's changed, is you."_

It was written by Eric Roth if he remembers correctly, but that's really not the point. He never paid much attention to that quote or to his class for that matter, but for some odd reason it stuck in his head. There was no valid reason to remember such a quote; Danny still lived at home. It wasn't until he left for college and finally came back for break did it really make any sense to him.

Danny had noticed a certain air of tension when he'd met his family in the airport. His mom and dad had nearly crushed him to death with hugs, same as they always did. But after that they'd hung off to the side to let Phantom have a chance to see him. They'd hugged each other and exchanged a few words and Danny didn't fail to notice how stiff his ghost half's movements felt during their embrace and how subdued his posture was as he shuffled alongside his human half with his hands shoved in his pockets. Words addressed to Jack and Maddie were curt and monotone, though he unsuccessfully tried to talk normally to them in order to hide it in front of Danny. The two boys trudged along behind their parents on the way back to the car, and not another word was said after the initial greetings.

The awkward silence was deafening. All around them hundreds of people laughed and cried as they welcomed and departed cherished friends and family; people rushed to and fro to their destinations and the collective din made it hard to hear one another in a close proximity. It didn't matter though. The Fentons walked on, the world around them plunged into silence as the tension in the air thickened until it was almost palpable and they were left to fight with their own thoughts. What was a happy welcoming had moments later turned into an oppressive atmosphere that had, in mere minutes, caused Danny to mirror his ghost's movements and toss out any form of light conversation he'd had planned.

Danny didn't really know what to do. He was clueless as to what had happened between Phantom and his family. And being gone for so long, he wasn't entirely sure he wanted to find out in all honesty. He didn't dare breach the wall of silence, so he did the only thing he _could_ do.

Danny kept his mouth shut.

The car ride home was even more unbearable. When the family had gotten to the RV his parents would bark out orders to Phantom and he'd comply without complaint, albeit with a grimace. Sometimes Danny would catch Phantom clenching his fists and giving their parents a harsh glare when he thought they weren't paying attention to him. He'd grit his teeth and would do what he was told though like a good little ghost.

"Phantom. Put Danny's things in the RV."

That was Jack. He bit out his words as if he was irritated but would turn around and be all happy sunshine and flowers when he'd talk to Danny. Maddie was the same, though not as obvious as her husband. Phantom took Danny's luggage out of his hands and Danny was about to protest if it had not been for the glare Phantom had given him that clearly said _don't_. He stood there with his mouth slightly open, bewildered at his family's behavior. Phantom grabbed at his arm and turned him around to lead him to the RV door.

"Come on, let's go home. Get in the front," he ground out.

Danny tried to move out of his grip. "Now wait a seco-"

"Don't _worry_ about it, _okay_?" There was that pointed look again. "Just get in." Phantom gave him one last glance before getting into the car himself.

Danny adhered and jumped into the front seat and the family drove home in what had to be one of the most awkward and tense rides of Danny's life. He'd try and catch Phantom's attention but the ghost steadfastly refused to look his way, so they rode home in absolute silence.

When they got back to FentonWorks (in record time thanks to Jack's abhorrent driving) Phantom helped Danny unpack his stuff, while Jack and Maddie leafed through the mail and listened to phone messages, respectively. Afterwards the two teens trekked upstairs, Danny trying to pry some sort of conversation out of Phantom who was, predictably, being stubborn.

"Phantom,what's going on?" Danny asked uncertainly.

Phantom dropped down onto the bed. "Nothing's going on." It was the same tone of voice Danny's parents had used toward Phantom.

Danny stalked towards Phantom."Don't tell me there's 'nothing going on' when there so obviously is. Nobody is talking to each other, all Mom and Dad have done since I got back were bark orders at you, and you just _do_ them. You think I haven't noticed all the glares you've been giving them?" He crossed his arms. "Everything was fine when I left, what happened?"

"Nothing happened," Phantom mumbled to himself. His hands were suddenly very interesting and he refused to take his eyes off of them as he messed with his fingernails and felt Danny sit on the bed next to him.

Danny apprehensively rested a hand on his brother's shoulder but quickly removed it when he felt him flinch under his hand.

"Well obviously something did," Danny said. "Otherwise you wouldn't be giving me the cold shoulder. I've been gone for a year and the mood around here has gone from light and cheery to nothing but doom and gloom."

Phantom ignored him and instead twisted his head to face away from the intruding boy as much as he could while continuing to play with his hands. There was a beat of chilly silence until Danny reached forward and grabbed the ghost's chin, forcing his head back around so Phantom would look Danny in the eye.

"Talk to me, would you?"

"God, nothing freaking happened!" Phantom wrenched his chin from the human's grasp and looked back down on his now-clenched fists. "We're just stressed, alright? Da- Jack blowing _another_ hole in the side of the house combined with you coming home has just put a lot of stress on us, ok? Just let it drop." Phantom had mumbled the last part and Danny was barely able to understand him. Phantom could have burned holes into his hands with the intensity he was glaring at them with.

"You still aren't calling them Mom and Dad," Danny said softly.

Phantom gave his human half a small glance before sighing and closing his eyes.

"It doesn't feel right."

**00000**

Danny had finished unpacking his things and took a walk through the house. His room looked pretty much the same except for the addition of Phantom's things. The rest of the house was the way it was when he left too; there was still an emergency ham (well past its expiration date) in the fridge, the lab still smelled of ozone and had scorch marks of varying degrees on the walls, and books and papers still stood stacked in Jazz's room. He ended up spending some time in his sister's room, just staring at the stuff she had on the walls and her perfectly-made bed. Everything was as immaculate as it had been the day she'd left for school. She couldn't come home for break as it was scheduled at a different time than Danny's, unfortunately. He really missed her and felt like none of this would be happening if she were here to knock some sense into his wayward parents. Danny took a sniff of the air in the room, the smell of lavender engrained into all of the redhead's possessions from Jazz's constant burning of incense. He took one last look around her room before letting out a heavy sigh and walking out.

Him and Phantom spent some time talking about what had happened in each other's life for the past year. It was all general small talk; the air was stuffy and sometimes Phantom's words would turn tense and clipped if Danny tried to pry. There wasn't much that was new; life in Amity Park went on as usual after Danny left for college. People knew of Danny's split into two different people but nobody paid much mind to Fenton's absence. He was as ignorant to their lives as they were to his; Fenton focused on school while Phantom and his parents stayed behind to fight ghosts. Nothing seemed to change.

Slow hours passed before it was time for dinner.

Danny's favorite meal had been made to celebrate his return. Fenton and Phantom sat next to each other and picked at their food while Maddie asked him how his school year was, oblivious to the sour mood hanging over the two boys' heads.

"Y'know, same-old same-old. Just another year of school," Danny sighed before giving his mom a small, somewhat forced smile, grateful for her attempts to at least make light conversation. He was getting awfully tired of the awkward silences in between Jack's blathering about ghosts. "What's happened around here?" he asked while he took a small bite, trying to feign interest in eating.

Phantom visibly tensed and choked on his food, dropping his fork in the process. He hastily ducked under the table to retrieve it.

"Sorry," he mumbled as he straightened himself out, looking anywhere but at his family, especially at Danny.

Danny eyed him from the side before realizing that his parents had tensed up themselves, though they still ate their food to try and cover up the shock. Their stiff, robotic movements, however, betrayed them. They immediately loosened up upon seeing their son's questioning gaze, and Jack uttered some sort of half-laugh half-cough.

"Oh, you know. Same stuff every day here too, ha ha," his father managed to choke out.

Danny skeptically eyed his parents up and down, inwardly telling himself to ask Phantom about that little display later. "Um, well, anyways... you guys said we were gonna do something next weekend?"

Maddie gladly seized the opportunity to get out of the awkward situation and ecstatically announced their plan. "We were thinking of spending a few days on the beach. Doesn't that sound like fun? The water's supposed to be crystal clear, and you can even feed the fish that like to swim close to the shore."

"Yeah!" Jack piped in. "There's even a scuba rental place! There's also this neat waterpark built into a cliff nearby, it's supposed to be really neat!" He sent Danny a wide, toothy grin.

"Really? That's so cool!" Danny reached over and shook Phantom's shoulder in excitement and the ghost broke out in a half-smile, glad that the tense moment was over and also a little excited to finally spend some fun time with his other half. "Just imagine if Phantom froze over part of the beach to make a big ice-skating rink or something! Hah! This is gonna be so sweet!"

Maddie gave a nervous laugh.

"Uh, yeah… We really don't plan on having that happen, sweetie."

"We're going to have so much fun though!" Danny was practically vibrating in his seat. "And this time you're not planning on leaving Phantom at home this time, right?"

Danny's expectantly looked back and forth between his Mom and Dad, his smile fading and his face crinkling into something akin to worry and shock.

Both parents sat stock-still as they glanced at each other and forced half-baked smiles to appear unnaturally on their faces, the harsh light from the kitchen landing oddly on them making them look kind of ghoulish.

"…We _are_ taking him with us, _aren't_ we?" Danny asked incredulously.

Maddie grabbed a handful of the table cloth in her lap, her unnatural smile faltering for a flicker of a second before snapping back into place.

"Mom…"

Somewhere in the house a pin dropped.

Phantom hung his head and squeezed his eyes shut.

They didn't want him to come. Again.

"Dad…?" Danny's mouth hung open, he could believe they were doing this. He just couldn't.

Jack quickly glanced over to Maddie again before returning to his son. Danny's eyebrows furrowed as he looked between the two of them.

"Why won't you answer me?" The pained expression on Danny's face grew as each passing second ticked by.

Phantom let out a shaky breath before he silently got up out of his chair and wordlessly exited the kitchen. He vanished into thin air before he even made it out of the room.

"You can't be serious," Danny breathed at his parents as he watched Phantom disappear.

Danny abruptly stood up and grabbed at the edge of the table. "I can't believe you guys… I honestly can't believe you did this _again,_" he emphatically delivered.

"Sweetie, we just wanted it to be a famil-"

"No! Don't you _dare_ finish that sentence!" Danny sent his parents a pained glare. "Phantom is part of this family, why can't you accept that?" He noisily shoved his chair under the table, rocking it and making the ceramic plates rattle. "I thought you guys were better than that," Danny babbled.

"Danny," Jack pleaded, "We just wanted to spend some time with _you_…"

"So then why doesn't that include Phantom?" Danny fisted the tablecloth, mirroring his mother's actions from earlier.

"Because, Danny… He's… not you…" Jack finished lamely.

"Yes he is, Dad!" Danny exclaimed. "We were always the same person; we sound the same and talk the same and look the same and we like the same things because he's _me_ and I'm _him_," the boy croaked out as he pawed at his chest.

"Just because we physically aren't the same person anymore doesn't mean he isn't the Danny you've known all your life. Just because he's my ghost half doesn't mean he's any less deserving of your love! He's your _son_, just as much as I am," Danny pathetically whined.

"How could you do that to him? What else have you done to him while I've been gone?" Danny shook his head as he stared down his parents, begging for an answer as the two of them flattening down into their chairs. Neither of them replied.

"I don't understand how you could do this," Danny whispered, despair coloring his features.

"Danny, please, let us explain-"

"Dad, no." Danny firmly cut him off. "What reason could you possibly have for treating him like that? Is your judgment still so clouded by your hatred for ghosts that you'd treat your own son like that?" The hand that Jack had been reaching out towards Danny snaked back into his lap to curl into his other hand, almost as if it had been burned.

"I'm… I'm really disappointed in you guys right now, you know that?" Danny took in a deep breath and let out a slow sigh. "I honestly expected better from you."

With that, Danny turned around and left, his parents still at the table, lamenting in their shame.

**00000**

"Phantom? Open up, it's Fenton. Come on Phantom please open the door," Danny pleaded.

He had his ear pressed against the bedroom door, listening for a reply. When none came, he tried to pick the lock with a safety pin he hid on the top of the door frame. The door creaked open, and Danny saw Phantom reclined on the bed with his hands propped behind his head, one knee raised, eyes closed and listening to an iPod, the sound of which he could hear from his spot by the door. He quickly walked over to him and yanked the buds out of his ears, Phantom's eyes shooting open and glaring at the offending party.

"Hey I was listening to that!" Phantom's eyes rested on Fenton, searching his face before his glare simmered down to a grimace and rolling over to face away from him.

"Phantom-"

"Go away," the ghost grumbled.

"Phantom, come on. They didn't actually mean i-"

"What part," at this point Phantom sat up to stare daggers at him, "Of 'go away' don't you understand,_ Fenton_?"

Danny visibly shrank away from the venom in his words. They were used to calling each other by their last names, but for him to spit it out like acid like that…

"You know just as well as I do that you're part of this family. They weren't thinking straight-"

"Oh,_ really_ now?" Phantom interrupted. "This is the second time they've done this, I hardly doubt that they weren't thinking straight."

_We just wanted it to be a _family_ trip._

_We weren't really planning on having _Phantom_ come._

"Phantom…"

"Save it Fenton," the boy spat. He got up off the bed and strode over to a corner of the room and plopped down into a deep blue beanbag, crossing his arms and legs. He didn't want Fenton to talk to him, he just wanted to be left alone. He was used to dealing with Jack and Maddie on his own; he didn't need or want their precious _human_ son to fix his problems.

"Why won't you just talk to me?" Danny snapped as he stalked over to Phantom. "Stop being such a stubborn _jerk_ and stop trying to push me away! I leave a happy family and I come back to one that can't even get through dinner without at least one person walking away upset! It's like I came back to an entirely different family and you won't freaking _tell me why_!"

"Well what do you _want_ me to say? Huh?" Phantom jumped out of the beanbag and returned to stand in front of Fenton, fists and teeth clenched as he stared down his other half.

"I want you to tell me what they did to you while I was gone!" Danny was all but screaming at this point, silently cursing himself for being so stubborn.

Phantom was absolutely seething at this point; Danny had no business getting in the middle of his issues. "It's none of your stupid business!" he barked back.

"Well I'm_ making_ it my business," Danny said as he jabbed a thumb at his chest.

"No, you're not! You're not me anymore, _just stay out of my life_!" Phantom shoved Fenton, and Fenton violently returned the shove.

"Don't _touch_ me, you stupid_ ghost_!"

Phantom slammed into the wall behind him end ended up in a heap on the floor, Danny realizing a second too late what he'd just did and, a little more importantly, what he'd just said.

Danny backed away a bit, horror coursing through him as he caught on to what he'd said to the boy on the floor.

"Phantom I'm so sorry I didn't mean to I swear I wasn't thinking-" The words came out in rapid succession, Danny gingerly reaching for Phantom, anything to get him to understand that he didn't mean it, it was an accident, he-

God, how could he be so stupid?

"Just _forget it, ok?_ " His voice cracked and the ghost on the floor curled in on himself, his breath shuddered as he hid his face from his human half in a tangle of arms and legs.

Just forget it. Forget everything. Nothing mattered. Who even cared?

Jack and Maddie didn't care about him. They never did, he wasn't their _son_. Their _human_ son. Their _living_ son. He was just a stupid _ghost; _a nuisance and a problem that they had to deal with only because it would make their son happy. He was worth nothing to them, and they made sure to let him know that. He was just a ghost, who was he in comparison to their pride and joy? Phantom was just a messed-up copy of their precious Danny.

He was so tired of feeling like nothing. He wasn't just a copy, he wasn't second runner up. He was Danny, he was still their _Danny_, their _son_. Why couldn't they love him like they loved his other half?

Why did he feel so broken and useless in front of the people who are supposed to love him?

Why did his parents hate him so much? He tried so hard to please them and make them happy and all they did was ignore him and yell at him and make him feel like he shouldn't even be alive.

Was it because he was a ghost? But he was still Danny though, didn't they see that? He was half of their son, they would never treat the other Danny like that, so why him? What did he do to deserve this? Jack and Maddie did nothing but treat him like a disposable slave, yet he tried day in and day out to make them smile. The only time they ever smiled was when they talked about Danny _Fenton_. Not Danny _Phantom._ Nothing he did would ever be good enough in their eyes because he was… he was a _stupid ghost_.

He was sick and tired of this. He was sick and tired of being called names endlessly and feeling like trash and in all honesty he was just plain sick and tired of being sick and tired. This was too much for him to deal with alone, why did Danny have to leave him here all by himself with these two people who want nothing to do with him? Why did he have to leave? _Why?_

Fenton fell to his knees when he heard small sniffles. Phantom _never_ cried. He would know, seeing as how they're the same person. The last thing they wanted was for other people to see them at their weakest; they kept things to themselves when they could. He saw the ghost cry only once, and it was when he was leaving for college. There was something wrong, especially if the way his parents had acted at dinner was any indication. Fenton sat down next to Phantom.

"What happened while I was gone…?" He made to grab at his friend's chin to get a look at his face, but when contact was made Phantom violently ripped his head out of Fenton's hand.

"Who _cares_? Just leave me alone."

"Obviously_ I_ care! Don't you get that? If I didn't care I wouldn't be here right now!" They always confided in each other, ALWAYS. It hurt knowing that Phantom didn't want to tell him what was wrong. He grabbed at his shoulders. "Phantom _please_, look at me and tel-"

Phantom's head snapped up with supernatural speed. "They HATE ME, okay? They hate my freaking guts! I'm nothing but a second-rate knockoff to Mom and Dad and they want absolutely _nothing_ to do with me! There, does that make you feel better?"

Danny almost fell over at the outburst.

"Phantom, I…"

"I'm so tired of being treated like I'm- I'm _worthless_! I'm t-tired of the names and I'm tired-" Dry heaves wracked his body and his voice waivered as he tried to get a hold of himself. He wouldn't lose control like this, he wasn't this _weak. _He couldn't help it though. Months and months of his so-called 'parents' telling him he was a waste of space and that he should be embarrassed to exist finally caught up with him. Every day it was some new insult. Every day they continuously put him down and compared him to their _precious son_. He wasn't good enough for them; he never would be because he was a _filthy ghost_.

His face grew hot and the tears started to flow. He swiped furiously at his eyes to try and wipe the offending tears away so the other boy wouldn't see but it was no use. The dam had broken and it was time for it all to come out, and he started to sob as Fenton finally grabbed him and wrapped him in a hug. He held the other boy there as he hid his face in the other boy's shirt, soaking it in the process. The insults had reduced him to a crying mess, and he felt utterly ashamed because of it.

What kind of hero was he? Getting sad and upset because of a few names? That should never debilitate him to the point of _sobbing hysterically into his friend's chest._ There was only so much neglect he could handle, though. Past memories of all the emotional neglect over the months slammed forth and grabbed at his heart and he tightly wrapped his arms around his friend as the sobbing caused him to choke on air, and he was so, so incredibly grateful to have someone there who actually cared. He heard his friend whisper kind words to him and it only made him feel so incredibly guilty for trying to push him away. He didn't mean to; it was his only coping mechanism and he wanted to feel strong in the face of fear.

After months and months of the absence of the only person who could lift him out of the dark he'd grown used to the belittling insults, to the petty names and the commanding tones from the only other people in his life. He'd learned to adjust; he'd held everything in. He would never dream of giving anybody the satisfaction of seeing him at his lowest. But holding him was a boy who could never judge him, who could never wish any ill will upon him like the rest of the world seemed so intent on doing.

His only comfort was a boy who would have to leave in two short weeks and he would once again be left all alone to fend for himself. He wasn't as confident as he made himself out to be; it was the mask he put on to survive the day. Without it, he had nothing. He was willing to give everything to the only person who had ever truly cared about him. He was just so _tired_. Tired of never being what anybody wanted, tired of being the biggest failure he knew, tired of feeling nothing, tired of going on every day like nothing is wrong. Tired, tired, tired. It was all he ever felt, he was eternally tired. His sobs died down and he removed himself from Fenton's shirt. He wiped off his red, puffy face, still embarrassed that someone saw him at such a weak point, even if it was only himself.

"Why didn't you tell me? Why didn't you ever call or anything? Why—"

"Because I didn't- I didn't want you to be ashamed of me," Phantom whispered between gulps of air. "W-what were you supposed to do? Quit college and move back here because I can't hand name-calling? Because I can't handle being on my own? I just- I'm…" Fenton quickly wrapped him in another hug.

"Hey, it's gonna be ok. I can promise you right now it'll be ok." There were a few more tears.

"Th-then why doesn't it feel like it? I'm tired of-of feeling like I'm- like I'm all alone in this," He broke down again, and this time, so did Fenton. He hated seeing his other half like this. But what was worse was knowing that he never knew about it, knowing that he couldn't help when he was so far away, knowing he couldn't do anything for him and knowing that at first Phantom had been reluctant to tell him. Him! His other half!

He was here now, though. It would be ok. Everything would get better. He could take him away from this place and they could be happy. Nobody in Amity Park would ever treat him like a lesser person ever again. And he made sure to tell that to Phantom, he made sure that every word set in and he made sure that he knew he'd always be there for him, no matter how far away he was. He was his brother and he would make sure nobody ever hurt him again, especially his parents.

"I hate feeling like-like _this_! Like I can't keep myself together," he continued to bawl his eyes out; clinging to his human half like his afterlife depended on it.

"I know, but you need to realize that it's going to be ok now. I know how you feel, I-"

"No, you don't!" Phantom shoved Fenton away from him, wiping his face again. "You don't _get it!_ You were never here! You didn't see how they _treated_ me! It was like I was some subspecies of human that deserved to be degraded and stuck in a cage to be _laughed _at! You were never here to stop them; ever since you left… they just grew so… so cold and distant." His stomach turned into knots as he recalled all the days he spent wishing he could just never wake up. Wishing he didn't have to deal with their words and their abuse; wishing he could just vanish. His mind reeled in the nightmarish flashbacks full of nothing but yelling and hatred and he so badly wanted to get away from this place. He was tired of waking up numb to everything; he wanted to care again. Fenton couldn't understand, _he wasn't here._ "I'm over being the only person being treated like a _freak-"_

"You think I don't know what it's like to be a freak?" Danny interrupted. "I more than anybody else in this stupid town should know what it's like to be a freak! I don't know if you remember or not, but I lived out my entire stinking life in high school being the loser and the freak! Don't ever tell me I don't know what it's like! I remember the stares and the hate like it was yesterday; I remember being shoved in lockers and being treated like crud _every single day. _So don't tell me I don't know how you feel because I wasn't here!"

"_And why do you think you were a freak_? Huh? Why?" Anger boiled through Phantom at the insinuation that he was the root of all their problems. He stood up and stared Fenton down, and for the first time that day he noticed how tired and run-down he looked, how dull his hair was and the bags under his eyes. He'd been under just as much stress as Phantom had been, but at the moment he was too selfish and angry and hurt to take that into account. This wasn't about Fenton, it was about him. But deep down he realized Fenton knew how it felt. They used to be the same person, but they weren't now. He couldn't hide under a human disguise anymore. Fenton was lucky, he wasn't a freak. He was normal. People didn't stare and point at him and he had parents who _loved_ him. He had_ nobody_.

"YOU WERE A FREAK BECAUSE OF _ME!_Every single day you felt like some sort of castaway was 100% because of ME!" Phantom continued to spout off his angry words; too long they spent festering in the back of his mind. Too long was he forced to remain docile at the hands of Jack and Maddie. His pent-up frustration had nowhere to go, and this was the first opportunity he'd had in a long time to release it. Once he started, he couldn't stop. "You were a freak because you were _half ghost!_ The human part of you was completely normal, it was YOUR STUPID GHOST HALF that was the FREAK! The loser kid with _freaky_ _ghost_ _powers_! You remember Dash calling you that after we split? _Because I SURE DO_. Nobody in this town gives me a chance because of what I am. I never asked for this; I never signed up to be treated like a _monster_! Yet they still act like I am one. Did you know I got kicked out of the movies because I'm a ghost? Because I'm_ DEAD_? I was always the freak! Go ahead and ask me how it feels to be a freak. Go ahead!"

Phantom glared daggers at his human half who was currently faced away from him in guilt.

He'd never thought of it that way. All this time Phantom thought his very existence was abhorrently _wrong and unnatural _and that was no doubt influenced heavily from the two people he had to live with. Danny understood that his ghost half made him a freak but he didn't take into consideration that Phantom couldn't hide somehow from that label like Danny could. Phantom really did have nobody. It was a horrible existence and Danny felt sick just thinking about how Phantom must have felt all this time, all alone with nobody to care for him in the world, left all alone with those thoughts to rot in his head…

All the fire in Phantom had escaped and he slumped his shoulders and lowered his head in defeat.

"I'm tired of being treated like something I'm not. I'm not a freak and I'm not a monster, and I wish so very badly that people would stop treating me like one. I'm just a person who isn't alive anymore. I-I never wanted to die…" He started to hiccup and rubbed at his eyes again.

"I just- I want Mom and Dad to… to treat me like their son. I want them to love me like they l-love you. It hurts so badly inside knowing that they don't feel the same way about me as t-they do you because I'm a ghost. God, I just want to know that they _care_… I want to know that I'm _good enough_ for them…" Tears threatened to spill again as he stood there in his self-loathing. At the end of the day, he just wanted them to wrap their arms around him and tell him that they were proud of him, that they loved him no matter what. He wanted someone to call Mom and Dad and he wanted someone that he could say I love you to and really mean it. He uttered the most helpless sounds as he started to unravel again, and Fenton immediately grabbed hold of his shoulders and shook him.

He was done seeing his best friend in so much agony. If there was one person on this earth that didn't deserve to feel like an absolute reject, it was Phantom. He'd done too much good for everybody, even people who didn't deserve it, to be tossed aside like a useless piece of garbage, like he was nothing. He was everything.

"Danny, look at me," Fenton said in a stern voice. Phantom slowly looked up, blinking the tears out of his eyes. "I don't ever want to hear you compare yourself to something that you're not, do you understand? You are not a _freak_, and you are not a_ monster_. You are a person and you deserve more than _anybody else_ to be treated like one. I know nothing I can say will instantly make everything better but I need to you listen to me for a bit, ok?"

Fenton stared Phantom straight in the eye, making sure the ghost never left eye contact. "The worst thing that could _ever_ happen to me would be to see you so unhappy. Mom and Dad don't treat you the way they should because _**they don't know what they have**_. They don't know that under their roof lives the most special and amazing person to _ever_ grace their presence." Danny continued to hold him in place while making sure Phantom was really _looking_ at him. He would drive this into his other half's head if it took the rest of his life.

"They don't understand that they're mistreating someone who should be _**so very precious**_ to them. You should be the reason they get up in the morning, and you should be the reason why they smile when they come home. You should be the light of their life, and even if you don't think so, YOU ARE."

"You're a _hero_, Danny. _**A hero**_. You save people; you've saved _hundreds of lives_. Do you realize that? People would be _dead_ if it weren't for you. You're the bravest strongest person I know and you do such amazing things every day that it's hard to believe that people don't love you, because they should. You're everybody's hero."

He shook his shoulders some more as his eyes softened and he talked with exasperation. "You are the most _fantastic_ person I've ever met, did you know that? You're the only person who I can tell all my secrets to and you're the person who can make me smile when everything else can't. You're the most special person in my life and I don't know what I would ever do if I lost you; I don't even want to think about what would happen. I'd go to the _ends of the earth_ for you, because I love you. Mom and Dad do too; they just need time to realize it. I've already yelled at them about what they did earlier."

"Do you remember how Copernicus introduced his helio-centric model of the universe and how everyone laughed at him? How they called him crazy and how they kicked him out of the church? How they told him he was wrong? Well guess what? _He was right_. But it took time for people to accept it because it was such a revolutionary idea and it didn't happen overnight. It took years for people to finally accept it into their life; and just look at how it's in our textbooks now. Well the same is for Mom and Dad. They grew up hating ghosts and thinking that they were all evil. The idea of a good ghost, or a ghost as their son is ludicrous to them. When that's introduced as a fact to them, they're going to reject it. One brand new piece of information destroyed years of their work and completely obliterated their beliefs on ghosts. They need time to warm up to the idea that a ghost is their son. It will take a while, but I can promise you right now that it will happen. They treat you badly because they don't know how to cope; it will get better though, I can promise you that. I'll do everything in my power to make sure you get the respect you deserve."

"It's like how we reacted once we were told Pluto wasn't a planet anymore. Remember how stupid we thought those scientists were? We were told growing up Pluto was a planet, and it's a belief that takes time to overcome. We ourselves may never fully overcome it as it's hard to change a person's way of thinking. Nobody ever wants to believe they're wrong. But what we can do is educate the people who have yet to be born, and everything will be right again. We're the ones who must initiate change."

"But don't _ever_ let me catch you feeling sorry for yourself, ok? I don't regret making the decision to split myself and you shouldn't either. I got the best friend I could ever ask for out of it, and I got the most _amazing_ brother. I love you more than _anything_ and I don't ever want you to think that I don't, because that would make you the biggest liar of the century. Do you understand? I love you, okay? _I freaking love you. _You are a member of this family just as much as I am. I am so incredibly proud and honored beyond belief to be able to call you my brother and I'm sorry Mom and Dad haven't realized that but I will _not_ leave them alone until they _do _realize that you're their son just as much as I am."

Danny let go of Phantom's shoulders, but before he could say anything else, Phantom had gathered him into his arms. He was crying again, but this time they were tears of happiness.

"Thank you Danny, thank you so, so much."

It was then that he realized what that quote from Lancer's class really meant.

No matter how long you're gone from your home, everything will be just as it was when you left. The people you leave behind never change. They go about their days just as they always do, and they believe in the same things they always did. They cannot go on a fantastic adventure that can challenge who they are or what they stand for, and they cannot be exposed to new things. You make new friends and grow new feelings, and you as a person evolves. You arrive back home and everything seems like it's stuck in time, and you feel so out of place because you weren't there to get stuck with them. You changed during your adventure, and sometimes, the people back home need to be reminded that change does and needs to happen, even if they don't think it's for the best.

Time begins to flow again when you realize that the change you want to see in the world starts with you.


End file.
